EU disavows its original support for the U.S. operation while Japan uses the war as an excuse to launch a mercantilist trade war against America: it embargoes countries that continue to trade with the U.S., though continuing to sell its own products there. Taylor is evacuated home to the U.S., but finds himself suffering from a new virus designated "Runciman's Disease" (RD), which leaves his face horribly scarred. Many returning U.S. soldiers are similarly infected; it spreads around the worldwide in a global pandemic. Japan puts its Home Islands under quarantine, with Okinawa being used exclusively for international trade. A nuclear war in the Middle East, some time after the Shaba disaster, destroys Israel. In 2008, Taylor leads a U.S. Army unit into Los Angeles, as the military is put on domestic deployment combating social unrest, and protecting delivery of basic services in the wake of the RD outbreak. Several years later, Taylor deploys with U.S. forces to Mexico, to eradicate a Japanese-supported revolutionary government that had won control; his disfigured face, and unique tactics, strike fear among the rebels. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, is on the brink of internal collapse in 2020, as its Central Asian republics ally with other Japanese-supported Islamic nations in conquering the country's resource-laden territory for Japan's benefit, and also conduct genocide against ethnic Russians. The United States reorganizes its military, and secretly deploys a combat unit — the 7th Heavy Cavalry Regiment (7HCR) — under by-then Colonel Taylor's command, spearheaded by the new M-100 assault gunship (which are equipped with an advanced railgun and Gatling cannons). The capture of an advanced Japanese AI interface enables the United States and Soviet Union to gain a better grasp of Japanese command-and-control abilities. The U.S. military command orders the open deployment of the 7HCR to strike a blow deep into the heart of the Arab Islamic Union lines in northern Kazakhstan, and help bolster Soviet defenses. The initial U.S. attacks on November 2, 2020, render heavy damage to the Islamic Union and their allied Iranian forces, especially when a repair depot in Karaganda is totally destroyed. Taylor's troops reposition to new deployment areas in the Ural river region, but a stray radio transmission gives the Japanese a clue to one assembly area near Orsk. The information prompts the Japanese to target it with the Scramblers, a special radiowave weapon that permanently disrupts the body's neuro-muscular functions while